The ferry continued its rough start Tuesday when a small hydraulic leak forced cancellation of its first round trip.

Some other ferries also require extra attention from the crew as they direct vehicles either straight ahead or up ramps to a second level, Coursey said.

The problem on the Tokitae has led the interim state ferries director, Capt. George Capacci, to ask Vigor Shipyards in Seattle to make design changes to ramps on two other 144-car ferries under construction.

The development annoyed state Reps. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, and Larry Seaquist, D-Gig Harbor, who said senior ferry-system managers told them in March that their worries about the ramps were unwarranted.

“We were simply misled. If the proper analysis had been done, this would never have happened,” Smith told The (Everett) Herald.

Washington State Ferries “must be held accountable,” the two wrote in a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee on Friday. “To ensure improvements in the department, we are strongly advising a major overhaul of upper management in the ferries division in order to restore public trust.”

Smith and Seaquist have asked Inslee to appoint an independent panel of experts to investigate ferry operations.

Any leadership changes would have to wait until a new ferries director is hired, Inslee spokeswoman Jaime Smith said.

Capacci told the newspaper that he put in a change order to create a smoother ramp on the Samish, which is already on the water, and the third as-yet unnamed vessel, on which work has not yet started.

“I do not think it’s a fatal flaw,” he said of the Tokitae design. “I think it’s one of those grooming issues you deal with when you bring a new vessel into service.”

The Tokitae cost $144 million as part of a three-vessel deal with Vigor that totaled $388 million.